She stood in the middle of her dressing room, pulling a knee high stocking over her leg and then placing a green, patent pump onto her foot. She sighed when she could barely wiggle her toes, they were slightly too tight. But there was no time to have her manager run out and get a bigger pair. Xavia was supposed to be on stage in less than three minutes. The stage manager knocked and then burst in, not waiting for an answer, “Layla, you’re on.” She gave a nod to the feminine man, saluting and then following him out. “By the way, lady, you’re looking fab. I love that shade of green on you.”

“Thank you, Ricky. I just wish I had picked it out.” They both laughed at her reply, and she waved as they separated, he toward another dressing room, she toward the back stage door. Her make up artist assaulted her with a last minute touch up and people were running around to make last minute changes to things, and she remained calm, walking toward the X that was painted on the stage floor in a subtle shade of gray that was only slightly different from the rest of the stage.

“Ladies and Gentleman,” came the announcement, “Please welcome back to our stage after a year exploring America: the up and coming, the beautiful and talented LAYLA!” And then the curtains were open. She was being back lit at this point, her lithe form outlined by white, her arm extended toward the ceiling, and she began to sing. “Never know how much I love you… Never know how much I care… But when you put your arms around me, I get a feeling that’s hard to bear: You give me fever… Fever when you touch me, fever when you hold me tight. FEVER…” The spot light flared to life on cue, and her form was revealed to the world. She was wearing a strapless gown that was much like one that was worn in the 50’s, and her bleached blonde hair was styled in rockabilly fashion… “In the morning, fever all through the night.” And she was definitely happy being on stage. She slinked around, letting her arm drift back toward her as she danced some, singing her version of Peggy Lee’s “Fever.” She was doing it in a much more updated style.

“Sun lights up the day time, moon lights up the night… I light up when you call my name, and ya know I’m gonna treat ya right! You give me fever… Fever when you touch me, fever when you hold me tight…. FEVER!! In the morning, fever all through the night…” By this point, she danced with a male, it was a little obvious that this was new to her but she wasn’t bad at it. The crowd loved it, they cheered and whistled, and she smiled seductively as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Everybody’s got the fever, that is something you all know. Fever isn’t such a new thing… Fever started long ago…” And then she’d move away from her partner, crouching down and singing to a random audience member, looking into his eyes and reaching out to tickle playfully at his chin, “Romeo love Juliet. Juliet, she felt the same.. When he put his arms around her, he said “Julie baby… You’re my flame…” She stood up and danced away, not missing a beat, “Thou giveth fever… When we kisseth, fever with thy flaming youth… FEVER! I’m a fire… Fever, yea, I burn, forsooth…” She went on through the rest of the song much the same, and at the end, was sitting on the edge of the stage, legs crossed, lights dimming.

When the audience went wild, she stood and was illuminated by the spot light once more, barely waiting for the crowd to die down before singing an Etta James song, then went on to singing a few songs from more recent. It took about an hour for her set to finish before the next act was to take the stage, and she was able to head to her dressing room and take off those awful shoes.

To say the shadow mutant had fallen from his high status would have been an understatement. He had gone from almost the CEO of a prominent Chicago business to New York City bar bouncer. Heck, the only reason Grim had gotten the job was because he had become a regular at the bar over a couple of weeks. Then one night, an intoxicated guest decided that the albino skinned mutant was an easy target to pick a fight with. That was a bad mistake on the attendees part. He left on a stretcher with a laceration across his chest and back from an unknown knife. Grim was hired on the spot that night.

Now, he was stuck supervising another reckless night of drinking and smoking and drug abuse. His power of invisibility allowed him to move unseen through most of the club. Therefore, he could spot incidents before they escalated into a bar room brawl. The worst night were the nights that bands played. It seemed to always begin more people and more of the unwanted type of people.

So tonight, Grim was moving around the edge of the crowd before the stage. He would become visible every once in a while when the lights from the stage hit him just right, but mostly, he walked around unseen. The shadow mutant rolled his eyes as the young singer gingerly placed her hand under the chin of a patron. That kind of stuff usually led to some kind of trouble.

And sure enough, as soon as the young woman had finished her perform, Grim noticed that the man was eagerly moving towards the "Reserved" section of the bar. As the next act made their way out from behind the curtain to set up, the man sneakily slipped past the curtain to the backstage. Growling to himself, Grim quickly began to make his way invisibly to where he had seen the man disappear behind the curtain.

(OOC: Feel free to use the NPC as you see fit.)

Had only been doing her job, and she was starting to dislike the whole bar and club scene as compared to the tour she’d been on. Security had been much tighter. She approached Kenny, her most recent manager, and raised her hands in a what-now kind of gesture. “You have got to get me some auditions on Broadway or get me back in one of the hotels. The men out there are pretty rowdy tonight and you want me to flirt. I don’t like it.”

“Forget about it, doll. You did great and ain’t nobody gonna come get you.” He was all nonchalant. He shook his head and walked off, clearly not worried.

Frowning, she shook her head and headed back toward her dressing room to change into normal clothes and get out of the awful shoes on her feet. She had barely began to pull off the shoes when there was a knock on her door. Xavia sighed and yelled, “Kenny, if that is you, we’re going to have a problem.”

But no, it was the man who’s chin she’d rubbed, and he opened her door without invitation and peeked his bald head in. “No, it’s me.” Like she knew him.

“Look, you’re not supposed to be back here.” She moved toward the door and went to try and close it and lock it. But the man wouldn’t let her. He pushed at the door hard enough that it knocked her back, and she toppled backwards to land on her rump, the telltale rending of fabric was quite audible. “What are you doing? Please leave before I call security!”

“Oh my god, I am so sorry.”

Already in a foul mood, Grim shoved a woman to the ground who accidentally bumped into him. Her face was in bewilderment as she could not see her assaulter. However, Grim paid her little attention. Instead, he disappeared behind the curtain, causing them to ruffle eerily as it appears as no one had touched them. Not that anyone notices as the new band had just began their act.

Once behind the stage, the overhead lights in the dressing corridor caused the shadow mutant to lose his invisibility. It also caused a young lady walking down the hall a great fright as a man appeared from nowhere. Grim only gave her a scowl before returning to the more pressing business of the trespasser. He could see the unwelcome guest at a door up the hall. As the shadow mutant made his way down the hall, Grim watched as the man forced his way into the room.

"Now, now..." Grim said under his breath. He reached the door as the man was over the young woman on the floor. Grim didn't say anything as he made into the room. With his dark hoodie pulled up, he probably looked more like a murderer than the creepy bald guy, but the shadow mutant liked the way his appearance made people uncomfortable.

"Listen, I'm really sorry. My name is Ted." The creepy man managed to say before he was hit by a boot to the back of his knee. As he collapsed, Grim grabbed him around the neck with his right arm, pulling him back.

"Hey buddy, you are not suppose to be here."

She looked up at the sudden movement of the shadow mutant, not that she knew that is what he was mind you, and said, “Please get him the hell out of my room. He just… Walked right in without invitation!” She was kind of upset, moving to stand up. Now, Xavia was not a diva in the sense that she was spoiled and had to have everything her way, and she wasn’t stuck up in any sense of the word… But when some guy just comes bursting into her room, she reacts accordingly. Because she wasn’t the type of gifted to blatantly show the world what she was, she didn’t use her power to try and intimidate. No, it was more comical than that…

She pulled off her other shoe, brandishing it like it was a dangerous weapon. Yes, that is right, she would beat that man with a shoe if she had to. The shoe held in front of her, she reached back and grabbed for the phone, then dialed the number for Kenny. When he answered with, “Yo,” she replied with, “No trouble, eh? Me flirting just got me into trouble and now there is a creepy man who burst into my room. Take care of it, Kenny.” Then she hung up on him.

If he didn’t take better care of her as a musician, she was probably going to hire someone else. But there were so many shady managers around, it was hard to tell who would do what in these parts. She’d hired Kenny because he’d been recommended to her by her former manager, who had to retire due to his health. Perhaps he hadn’t known what a lackluster performance the latter was giving.

Now, as far as the other man, the one who was helping her out, she was going to be sure to reward for said help.

"Look, I was just trying to-"

"Shut up!" Grim said, cutting off the intruder. He tightened his grip and started to drag the man out of the room, but the man continued to resist.

"Please, I-"

"Shut up!" Grim said again, louder. The shadow mutant was now coughing the individual as he worked to remove the man from the room. The man made some kind of throaty noise, but words were impossible to distinguish from the noise. Grim was slowly persuading the man to leave by force when suddenly the man was able to grab a hold of his arm, then with a surprisingly strong force, Grim was pulled over the man's shoulder and thrown across the room. The shadow mutant smashed into a wall before collapsing to the ground. However, he was quickly back on his feet, although his back was in more pain than before.

"Oh? I see you are a mutant!" Grim said with an evil grin. His hood had fallen off during the toss across the room, revealed his lightning blonde hair and pale skin. The dark scar on his cheek stood out profoundly against the pale background.

Despite the tear in her dress that could go horribly wrong, she followed the two others out, immediately lifting her palm and causing a vine of ivy to spring forth. Of course, the photosynthesis took about thirty seconds, and a lot could happen in that amount of time. Once she felt confident enough, she sent it toward the man’s feet, which it obediently curled around Ted’s, and not the Shadow’s feet. Xavia yanked as hard as she could, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. He went crashing down with a heavy thud, hopefully to give his opponent a better chance at whooping his ass.

But she turned her head, hearing the sound of her manager nearing as he spoke on his cell, “I don’t know what her problem is, she is turning out to be a diva and I don’t like how needy she is. The only thing Layla has going for her is --- Oh crap, I have to go.”

“By the way, you stinking turd, you’re fired.” She was really mad, now.

“You’re – You’re…” He pointed toward her hand… “A gold mine!! Wait! You can’t fire me!”

She ignored him and dropped the vine, which was withering at this point. Great, he had seen a small amount of what she could do. Now what? At least Kenny was “kind” enough to yell for more security, and more of them came to restrain this Ted fellow and relieve the Shadow.

At the thought of a fight, Grim's mind had switched into combat mode. His face was smeared in that sickly grin and there was a look of murder in his eyes. They darted to and fro across the mutant in front of him who had mistakenly chosen to fight him, assessing him for weaknesses. All Grim knew was the mutant had the power of super strength. He didn't know anything else so he was cautious until he had a full diagnosis.

"Look, I really don't want to fight. I just wanted to talk with the lady." The man said, his voice shaking slightly. This only spurred on Grim's passion. Someone was yelling, and people were moving down the hall. However, the shadow mutant paid little attention to the other things going on. He watched as a vine slowly wove its way around the man's leg. It appeared the young woman was also a mutant.

With the snap of the vine, the man's foot jerked back, his balance thrown off. Grim took the opportunity to tackle the man. The pair of them rolled from the momentum of the tackle. The shadow mutant managed to get on top, his legs pinning the man's arms to the ground. A black blade that had appeared from no where was at the intruder's throat. Grim's body leaned over the man, providing the needed shadow for the blade to remain solidified. By this time, the other security guards were at the edge of the hall prepared to remove the rude customer.

She watched as the security guards started coming out of the woodwork, then turned to her former manager and bit out, “Seriously, kissing up won’t help you. You are terrible, and you don’t do your job right. And then you insult me over the phone to someone? And you seriously expect me to pay you? You breached contract. I can sue you if I wanted to… I will if you even think of opening your fool mouth about me ever again and I find out. Please get the hell out of my face.”

“Layla, no! I swear, it won’t happen again.” By this point, he sounded kind of desperate. Why, if he thought ill of her, did he think she was going to keep him on? She rolled her eyes and pointed to the man who was now being tackled by more security guards, zip ties being pulled out and restraining him.

“If you gave a good gosh damn about me at all, this would not have happened.” With that, she walked away. When the man, Ted, was calming down, she put her hands up to the guards to hold them off from hauling him away just yet. “As for you, you should know I was only doing my job.” Her accent was a little thicker in her calm anger. One could tell she was restraining herself from going berserk, something she had learned to do over the passed few years. After all, no situation is as bad (save death, perhaps) as being tortured. “If you ever come near me again, I give this man…” she nodded to the shadow, “Permission to rip your privates off.”

With that, she padded off, mustering all the dignity she could as she headed back to the dressing room. She did not turn around until the rude one was hauled off. When she did, it was to call to the one who had initially come to help. “I need to change into real clothes. Then I want to get out of here. If you’re hungry, there is a place not too far from here, very good food; my treat. Also…” She was turning away by this point, and threw over her shoulder, “My name is Xavia.”

And then she was in her room to change. The only thing left to remind anyone of her presence was the vine that lay withering and brown on the floor, and the natural smell of roses.

Luckily for Grim, a few of the bouncers had super strength as one of their mutant attributes. Otherwise, the bald man could easily have thrown the shadow mutant off of him. While two large fellow co-workers of Grim's wrestled the awkward man into some zip ties, the shadow mutant managed to pull himself from the mass of struggling bodies. He heard the noise of the young woman and her manger arguing but did not pay attention to the words being said. It was not his place. His job was to ensure the stalker man was taken out of here.

However, Grim did take notice when she threatened the bald man with the shadow mutant's knife. He smiled at the suggested torture. The young singer was surprisingly evil for her fair complexion. Of course, Grim was no stranger to evil women being wrapped in pretty packages. He was in the Order after all.

That was also why he was not able to resist the temptation to stare at the embarrassing rip in the woman's dress as she turned away from him. As the other two bouncers roughly escorted/ dragged the man out of sight, Grim had to quickly advert his gaze as the young woman turned back around to address him. He looked back, locking his blue eyes on her caramel brown ones as she spoke to him. The shadow mutant gave his little half smirk at the woman's suggestion.

"It would be my pleasure." Grim replied. "It's pleasure to meet you, Xavia. I am Garth. How about a meet you out back in fifteen minutes? No one here will no I am gone."

She wasn’t evil as far as doing whatever she wanted to, to get to the top… She was only evil when she absolutely had to be. Business and mundane were two different ball games. Xavia didn’t like being treated like crap, and she had a no bull policy ever since her first manager tried to screw her over as bad as he had. She used her power with responsibility, basically. Not just the money, but the gift.

When he replied to her with a time frame, she nodded and said, “Deal. Nice to meet you.” And that was just as she closed her door.

She was dressed before the fifteen minutes were up and out the door. If he wasn’t already out there, she was leaning against the building, clad in a simple cotton dress that was red with white polka dots, and a crop style jean jacket. She wasn’t riding her Harley tonight, so found no point in wearing leather. Her hair was swept up and clipped, so there were strands escaping here and there, and she’d downplayed her make up because she wasn’t on stage.

At some point, she pulled out a pad of paper and was working on writing a song, humming quietly and somewhat bored as she waited for him to come out. Every now and then, she’d tap her foot and read her work aloud.

Grim was outside of the club with about a minute to spare. However, he did not use the backdoor. The shadow mutant rarely used doors. So inconvenient, so much time wasted. Instead, he had teleported into a dark spot out in the alley. However, it was not like he could be seen. As soon as his feet touched the alley floor, Grim could hear the soft lyrics bring sang by the blonde beauty. He listened for a few minutes to the sweet melodies before making his presence known by stepping into the light cast by the back door light of the club.

"Wow, that was really lovely. I especially like that last verse." Grim said with a grin.

“You think so? I am trying to get away from cover tunes, so thank you.” She didn’t look up from writing at first, so she hadn’t seen that he teleported. When she did look up, it was as the taxi was pulling up. “Are you ready?” She smirked, put her note pad away, and then got in. She gave the cabby the directions, and (assuming he got in) he started to drive through the back alleys to avoid traffic. Apparently he drove Xavia around a lot because he treated her like a regular, and he was kind of chatty.

It took about ten minutes for them to get to the place they were to eat at. Nothing too fancy, but more Posh than your average joe bar. Alquelonde was casual but the food was gourmet. The hostess didn’t even need to ask any questions, she just showed them to Xavia’s usual table with some friendly chatting on the way, asking about her day and what not. And then they were seated.

It wasn’t until after they ordered their food, which would be a vegetarian meal for her and whatever he ordered, drinks as well, that she spoke to him. “I am betting you wonder why I invited you to dine with me. I mean, aside from you being on top of your game and kicking the crap out of that jack ass back at the club.” She sipped at water, lifting her gaze toward his face while nonchalantly picking at the bread she pulled out of the basket

The taxi ride to the restaurant was uneventful, although the taxi driver was a little more chatty than Grim would have liked. He distracted himself by admiring Xavia's legs that appeared from beneath her dress.

However, the car ride was by far too long! The shadow mutant was used to teleporting around the city in under five minutes. Then to be stuck in a car for over ten, he thought he might go numb with boredom.

Finally, the reached their destination, a nice, quaint little restaurant that Grim had never gone to before. On the other hand, Xavia appeared to be a regular as they were seated almost instantly. Once seated, the shadow mutant ordered some pasta with a tomato sauce with a glass of water.

"Yes, I have been wondering." Grim replied as he sipped his water. "Please do indulge me."

“Well,” she started, drawling out slightly as she continued to pick at her bread, “Firstly, I wanted to thank you for you doing your job with competence. It seems like everyone else was being sluggish, including my lackluster ex manager.” She gave a snort, no surprise there really. “The main reason, though, is that I wanted to talk business with you.” She leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs the way most women do, then steepled her fingers. “I am willing to pay double what you are making if you would quit that job and be my personal security.”

She was serious, and he’d be able to tell by the look on her face. The woman meant business. “While I am glad that I am doing my job well enough to gain such admiration,” she cleared her throat, “I dislike them coming at me in my dressing room, trying to talk to me while I am trying to go back to the mundane life. It’s not just annoying, it is dangerous.”

Their food was served, and it was clear that it was good quality. Her vegetables were bright and smelled delicious, and both meals were arranged on their plates artfully. “The fact of the matter is, I cannot go another day without someone who is willing to stand outside of my dressing room to keep the creeps out. I wouldn’t be asking just anyone… But…” She heaved a sigh, stabbing at a green bean, “I will tell you something that I don’t talk about much. A few years ago, I was attacked and nearly abducted by some thugs. And this was eh… in my hotel suite at the time.” Then she took a bite and chewed slowly, thoughtfully, and thoroughly. After swallowing, she went on, “My body guard was hit in the head and knocked out. While he was one of the best, to me, it is clear that I need someone who won’t be overtaken so easily… Someone like you.”